Monday, 15 May 2017

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will today launch a road-map for steps to be taken for the conservation of the Narmada river in Madhya Pradesh. The event will be held at Amarkantak in Anooppur district. Amarkantak is the place where the river originates. It will mark the conclusion of ‘Namami Devi Narmade Sewa Yatra’. The Narmada river conservation awareness campaign was launched in December last year. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had kick started five-month long Narmada Sewa Yatra from Amarkantak, according to a PTI report. “Tomorrow in Madhya Pradesh, I will be launching the Narmada Seva Mission, which will surely have a major impact on MP’s ecology,” PM Modi had said.

“I am delighted to join the programme to mark the conclusion of the Narmada Seva Yatra in Amarkantak, Madhya Pradesh, tomorrow afternoon,” PM Modi tweeted. Hailing the Seva Yattra as an ‘excellent mass movement’, PM Modi said that it “conveys a larger message of saving the environment.” “Narmada Seva Yatra is an excellent mass movement to protect the Narmada & conveys a larger message of saving the environment as well,” Modi said in a series of tweets.

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“The prime minister will release a road map for the conservation of Narmada, the lifeline of Madhya Pradesh, at Amarkantak,” Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said yesterday. “The roadmap has been prepared after wide-ranging consultations with various stakeholders, including environmentalists, river conservation experts and people directly associated with the Narmada,” he said.

The yatra, which started on December 11, 2016 from Amarkantak, will conclude today after covering a distance of 3,344 km and passing through over 1,100 villages and towns.

A number of prominent personalties, including Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, BJP president Amit Shah, Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Uma Bharti, Anil Madhav Dave, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and well-known water conservationist Rajendra Singh, among others, took part in the yatra in its different stages. Modi will arrive at Amarkantak, around 450 km from Bhopal, in the afternoon. He will also take part in ‘Narmada Pujan’ and address a gathering, an official associated with the yatra said.

Elaborate security arrangements have been made for the prime minister’s visit, he said. Narmada flows 1,312 km before draining through the Gulf of Khambhat into the Arabian Sea.

Narmada, also known as Rewa, is one of only three major rivers in the country that flows from east to west. The other two are Tapti and Mahi.